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Police warning parents about new iPhone feature
(thehill.com)
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This is absurdly stupid to panic about, and the police "warning" people about it should be embarrassed.
Name Drop is no different than a user taking 10 seconds to manually type a number.
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It absolutely cannot be a privacy issue.
It takes the same amount of work as manually sharing your number. It cannot happen without deliberate action.
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The feature does require confirmation.
It also requires accessing your contacts database, which is encrypted on iPhones...
Because it's encrypted, it's impossible to share contact details unless someone enters the device passcode (or else does a biometric unlock - which effectively stores your passcode temporarily in a secure location that is wiped whenever the device is powered off or left unused for several hours).
It only happens with airdrop from strangers enabled, which you cannot leave on permanently, and your devices have to effectively be touching.
There is genuinely not any meaningful risk involved.